Elyssa City
Write the first paragraph of your page here. History The history of this world is long and storied and there have been many tales throughout the ages, many lives lived and wars fought. None more cataclysmic than the great war estimated to have happened sometime over 1400 years ago, certainly, but there have indeed been wars and love and life and sadness and death. The world of Bascurro is indeed storied, and these are only a small picking of the myriad of stories that have occurred in this marvellous land. The first thing that should be said is that in times gone by, Bascurro was not the entirety of the land in this dimension. Before the Great War Bascurro was but one continent of this world, however most of the landmass and the surrounding ocean was lost in the events of the war, as millions of square miles of land fell into the nothingness that boarders the world, many billions of lives were lost as well. As time was hammered back into place and the Norzan pact was signed, the dust of the War settled and the entirety of liveable landmass was congealed into what is now known as Bascurro. Perhaps for further clarification, what is known of the time before the war should be mentioned also. Before the war, what is now known as Bascurro was a much larger mass of land. Writings describe it as having idyllic conditions compared to modern day Bascurro, with mention given to fields spanning hundreds of miles, mile high trees in forests so thick that the floor level was pitch black, cities it would take a lifetime to walk across with buildings of pure gold and crystal. If these writings are true it is safe to say that the great war took a major toll on the world as it was known. Not to mention that the Bascurro was a smaller continent in the world, at least 7 other continents in this pre-war world were mentioned containing many similar descriptions though detail on those are unimportant for this tome. Before The War The events of the Norzan pact should also be spoken of as they form the magical landscape for Bascurro, however for a greater understanding of the Norzan pact the events preceding it must also be brought to light, however little is known of this time. In the time Before, the power of a witch or wizard was a grand and terrifying thing, able to move entire mountains or to change the flow of rivers with a mere thought. It is noted in multiple tomes that they were quick to abuse this power and wreaked havoc on the human population of the world, vanishing entire cities and causing whole continents to become flooded. Some fringe accounts note apocalyptic events like rains of fiery rock as large as houses. The events that brought a start to the Great war were long brewing, the humans had been gifted a city by the council of witches and wizards named Hidaria. Over the centuries humanity gained a greater understanding of the ways in which magic works and is controlled to the point that they had the ability to build constructions that magical users call 'artifacts'. These items were able to work and manipulate magic in specific ways, these built-to-purpose items were initially small and built for utility however as time progressed as did human curiosity until the creations of the non-magical humans were rival to the most powerful of wizard magic. These constructs frightened the humans for the power they controlled, but moreso the power that the wizards controlled as well. They found fear that a wizard would flick from the risk the world changing power it had taken them centuries to research and build. The opinions of magic and its users soured quickly in the human world after many decades of propaganda, most of which aided by the human artifacts and soon the human mass population was worked into a blood frenzy and war was foreseeable on the horizon. The wizard community saw tensions rise and worried, some were privy to the magical weapons humans had been developing to counter the mad with power wizards and knew that they would indeed be bested if it were to come to war. It was with relief that the wizard race that the humans offered peace talks, requesting to speak with two of the most prolific warlocks at the time, a husband and wife pairing known as the The Lovers Of Frozen Fire And Burning Ice, Calvert and Niori Canaan. War Begins Known for a prolific ability to manipulate the element of fire and matters relating to ice such as water and the weather as well as being high generals in the magical army and head instructors at the Canaan School Of The Warlock arts. Calvert and Niori were an integral part of any war that the wizarding world would wish to fight and were asked to Hidaria so that they could be assassinated. The attempt was successful and while also removing an important strategic part of the wizarding army, caused a great derth in wizard morale as well. From this strong starting point the humans launched multiple surprise attacks with magical ordinance ,powerful enough to blow entire continents much larger than the current Bascurro into pieces. There is no written record of how long the war lasted, such a thing would be impossible due to the nature of the weaponry and spells used. Simple explosions were a small part of the weapons employed on both sides, bombs that spawned tornados hundreds of miles wide are mentioned at multiple points as well as more metaphysical weaponry. Bombs that warped the magical concentration in locales were dropped, effectively shutting out witches and wizards who had attuned themselves with the natural ways in which magic worked. However, this was one of the more tame weaponry employed in the war. Retribution by the wizarding world caused the hostilities to escalate, after Baran The Raging leveled Hidaria in a single night by infiltrating the magical wards and creating a concentrated magical cluster in the heart of the city. This ball of magic fed off the power of all the magical items around it, the city almost entirely sustained by magic and several hundreds of miles in radius, became more and more dense until it had pulled the entire city into itself. The sky above Hidaria had been torn from it's place and behind it had been revealed The Void, the dark nothingness that surrounded the world. In reply to this the human world, that had long anticipated an attack on their capital city and had moved their weaponry and strategists, replied by loosing their entire supply of time distortion bombs on a conclave of the remaining witches and wizards. The intent had been to trap the last of their enemies in a time distortion forever, however a more grim consequence was met and time was torn asunder. There are few records from this time period that have survived and placing them in chronological proves to be impossible, however it seems that while some humans had called a close to the war, others had continued it. A principle theory is that time had broken itself into two separate timelines, one wherein humans ceased the war and instantly went about fixing time and a second timeline wherein the events of the war had been reversed, and as such the world was not destroyed, nor had those who were currently dead been killed however it is thought that while the events had been reversed, it was understood that the war had still taken place meaning that those within the second timeline knew of the war but had not experienced it. However this is simply a theory, it is not fully understood what happened. The End Of War and The Norzan Pact If this theory is true, it continued thusly; around 1400 years ago time was mended and the the two timelines meshed back together, timeline 1 holding primacy over timeline 2 and only a few sparing details of the latter were carried into the former, however one of these details was the undeath of Calvert Canaan, the first casualty of the great war. Beaten and bound in chains he was forced to cast the spell and sign the Norzan pact on behalf of all magical beings that were to reside in the new dimension that had came to be named Bascurro. The Norzan pact is a magical alteration to the concentration and function of magic across the entire dimension (now only a relatively small continent compared to what it had been before the war) that weakened witches and wizards monumentally. Instead of being able to move mountains as they had been formally, their power was brought down so that moving a house was a feat that required years of training. No longer could a wizard simply whip up firestorms that would melt diamond, instead they would just about be able to light the fireplaces in their small homes. The Norzan pact, suggested, spearheaded and agreed upon by Darna Norzan, former mayor of Hidaria and the man who started the Great war, neutered witches and wizards that they would never again threaten human life. The wizards went into hiding and slowly their rights were encroached upon until it was punishable by death for being a wizard. They lived under oppression and secretly, these times are well documented as times of suspicion and worry for many magic users. The lucky few were able to form families and many lived in burrows under the ground where human eyes would not think to look, others simlply fled to otrher dimensions. It was only some 800 years ago that a protege of the aged and insane Calvert Canaan started to gather magic users into a single place, Elyssa City. The Formation Of Elyssa City Built upon the ashes of the once radiant Hidaria, Elyssa city was the first organised gathering of magic users within the dimension in 600 years. All those who would remember the Great war were dead and the magic users who were gathering together at Elyssa City had endured lives of hardship, oppression and due to the safety of underground home making for many, it was the first time seeing the sun, multiple generations of witches and wizards having grown up without seeing it themselves. Unfortunately due to the impaired length of life that was brought about by the Norzan pact (name) did not see the completion of her city and it was still in progress as a young inductee to witchhood arrived whom more shall be said of later. Due to the melting pot nature of the budding Elyssa city there was a great homogenising of magical arts that used to be very seperate from one and other, mental magic blended with healing magic, combat magic and animal magic were brought together in ways beyond typical lumite comprehension. The time before the great war is noted as a very studious and academic time where tradition dictated the ways in which magic was used. Despite it's humble and somewhat tumultuous beginnings, Elyssa city marked a renaissance in the magical use of this plane that spiralled out in parts to the other planes as well. The early years for Elyssa city were certainly the hardest, as it was still illegal to be a magical being the entire city had to be constructed in complete secrecy in a time where spells to enforce such a thing had not been rediscovered. An invitation to Elyssa city was not simply a trip to a foreign land, it was an invitation to a secret club wherein exposure to the outside meant death for all those involved. To be called to Elyssa city was recognition that one could be trusted, that one was truly part of the wizarding community. Though this generally only stood for well connected adult wizards, entry into Elyssa city was a slight bit easier for younger people with magical potential. For generations witches and wizards had been 'home schooled', for lack of a better phrase, the more formal tuition offered at Elyssa city was also far more organised and rigorous which quickly brought through a wave of younger, more powerful wizards than the generaiton that had came before. The pinnacle of this generation was a young woman named Elyssa herself, named for the city and the hope it brought to the wizarding world. First attention was brought to her prodigious command of magic, her abilities developed rapidly through her tuition and only a few years into her magical training she was already innovating spells, holding her own classes and at times, re-educating the witches and wizards who had educated her. In part due to her magical ability but mainly because of her level headedness and profound leadership ability she was elected mayoress of Elyssa city that was slowly aproaching completion as per the original specifications. Of course, the original plans could never have taken account the rapid growth that Elyssa city under went and as such the city was never truly finished and continued to grow even longer after Elyssa herself had passed. Announcing The Magical Presence In Bascurro Though, this is most certainly not the end of the story concerning the most important leader that the wizarding world has seen postwar. Shortly after her election, she and her wife Naiya made the extremely controversial decision to announce a solidified magical presence to the human world. The decision saw riots in the streets as many people of all ages and believes thought that as soon as the wizarding community was announced there would be another war, knowing full well that with the weaponry the humans wielded and the intense decrease in magical power the Norzan pact had brought, it would be less of a war and more of a genocide that needed little more than a day to complete. Despite heavy protest, those who had had human friends and relatives had supported the move, as well as those that had the ability to trade or hide. There was serious opposition as well as serious support and more than a few deaths brought about in duels over disagreements. Elyssa listened to both sides carefully and, despite it being said that attempting to change her mind was futile once she was set, came to the decision that telling the human world was still the right thing to do. And so it went out by official missive from the desk of the Mayoress of Elyssa city that there was indeed a magical settlement in the world once more. There was an immense uproar in the human world, the more militant humans demanded en masse that the walls of Elyssa city be stormed immediately and that every magical being be dragged out of the city and put to death. The human leaders of the time took a more reserved position on the issue and elected to give Elyssa city a grace period of 10 years wherein any hostilities or the suspicion thereof would result in military action. This was regarded as an immense victory by the wizarding community though those who had opposed the action before it had happened were still reserved afterwards. A year or so into the grace period, Elyssa city openned it's gates to all and any travellers, this move was preceeded by a year long propaganda campaign lead by Elyssa herself to improve public opinion of non-magical beings, having realised that one of the major imflamatory points in the prelude to the Great war was something as simple as the ways in which witches and wizards conducted themselves when speaking to humans. The old perception was that magical beings were of a greater calling in life than their non-magical counterparts, making the majority of witches and wizards anywhere between distant to outright arrogant, dimissive and condescending towards humans. This made even simple interactions between the two races rather difficult. The pro-human campaign was a successful one and when the gates opened to travellers the wizaridng communtity was more ready to accept the curious human explorers that wished to see magical creatures first hand and outside of propaganda posters and sketches. The first contact was extremely succesful and these first humans sent back words of their trips into the magical lands and the fantastic things that magic were able to produce. It was shortly after this that the first human residents of Elyssa city registered their homes and installed themselves permanently. Just as the early days of Elyssa city had been a magical renaissance, the leadership of Elyssa was a witch and wizard renaissance, the old opinions of the prewar wizards had been wiped from the minds of the current and the new generation. The 10 years of probation given to the magical world was ended successfully when the counsel of human leaders was given a tour around the city by Elyssa and Naiya themselves, they were greeted with a magical parade which startled the delegation at first but quickly they came to see the beauty that magic can bring to the world. Peacetime was declared between humans and magic users in Bascurro, one of the fringe benefits being that the plane was once more safe for extra-planar beings, humans very rarely made the distinction between all of the magical races and would treat any magical being as they would a wizard. This change proved massively beneficial for relations between Bascurro and the other planes of existance and more frequent travel was made between Bascurro and the other magical worlds, causing a greater intermingling between wizards and other magical beings, providing further magical enlightenment. As her life came to an end Elyssa made further pushes to improve the relationships between wizards and humans and proudly resided over the first marriage between wizard and human in recorded history. Interspecies intermingling before the Great War had either been not recorded, lost or simply didn't happen. Afterwards the relationships between humans and wizards normalised significantly, in the 600 years since the apocalyptic destruction of the great war most of the damage that had been done to the world had corrected itself in some measure, either small things like grass and forests growing again or greater things like rivers reforging their paths through euclidean geography. The greater problems, like localised timeholes for one instance, were studied carefully and eventually righted by the witches and wizards of the day. After Elyssa/ Grandmaster Mikami The events within Elyssa city settled into a normalcy for a few century, magic developed in some small ways though nothing as prolific as growth that was seen in the early days of Elyssa city though the process that most certainly developed in Elyssa city was the formal education. Schools for the young were created, schools for the gift, preparatory institutions for early entry into each of the different denominations of magic were created amongst other things and there was a growth in the quality of education that each young witch or wizard could expect. Eventually Elyssa city settled into the economy of Bascurro as well as the culture, the city once full of creatures that would be killed upon sight was now as normal a part of Bascurro as any other city on the continent. For these reasons, the history in Elyssa city is somewhat undifferentiated from the history of the rest of the continent for this time, they took no wildly different standpoints on political issues, waged war on no one nor did they take sides when called, despite it being hundreds of years since their persecution the wizard community were still all but aware of the old perceptions and as such chose not to rock the boat nor make any enemies on a large scale. There were of course, smaller internal scuffles, fallings out between magical departments and various rivalries between schools and suchforth, however these things are, on the whole, too small to be mentioned in any annal of history that does not purport to be entirely inclusive. For the sake of brevity, the next major event that should be mentioned is the life and times of Grandmaster Wizard and Warlock Satoshi Mikami. Despite there being free transfer between the planes as well as a more general sense of safety for all creatures wishing to reside in Elyssa city, there was still very few means of transport between the planes as well as very little in the way of interplanar diplomacy. Interplanar trade was quite low and the events the Great war still rung in the ears of many creatures of the other planes, the Norzan pact only affecting Bascurro meaning that some magical creatures of other planes would still be old enough to remember the war itself. Witches and Wizards as well as the plane of Bascurro found itself ostracized slightly by the rest of the magical community. These conditions changed with the influence of grandmaster Mikami, by this point he was already one of the most established post war wizards within Bascurro, wowing the entire magical community on the plane with his unsurpassed prowess in all fields. However around 70 years ago, long before the Daylight wars were brewing in Solia, Mikami managed to break the centuries long deadlock and establish traderoutes between Bascurro and Solia and Lumia, the latter being sister planes that exist within the same physical space. Gems and magical stones were taken from Bascurro and magical plants and animals were traded from the great jungles of Lumia along with knowledge of potions and magical animal anatomy from academics in Solia. A more solid connection was made with the Elven people of The Ancient Forests, The Ancient Forests not to be confused with Lumia, the latter being a jungle and a completely seperate plane of existance to The Ancient Forest. The elven people had for a long time been a secretive and reclusive race and despite multiple tries between the Wizarding community to open even preliminary talks with the elves, all attempts had failed. However, Grandmaster Mikami was able to not only open talks with the Elven community but he was able to encourage travel between the two planes. Witches and Wizards were granted permission to venture to the grand tree-house like communities that lace The Ancient Forests. Perhaps in one of his most controversial moves Grandmaster Mikami also openned communication with Gatharrak, the demon dimension. Generally viewed negatively as a dangerous race with many secret intentions, grandmaster Mikami preferred to look past the stereotypes of the demon people and offered to the open boarders of the magical Elyssa city to the demon people, however negotiations broke down quickly and resulted in grandmaster Mikami leaving politely late into the third day. Sources close to him suggest that the demons were more interested in trying to pull cheap tricks and pranks over the grandmaster wizard rather than continue a discourse. Despite this, there were now established channels for witches and wizards to contact the demon plane, a problem that would grow monumentally as Mikami aged. His dealings with the Shadow plane were more successful and saw an influx of vampires into Bascurro which somewhat disrupted the delicate social balance of the kindred in the city. This move caused a considerable stir with the vampires that had been residing in the city for generations, however the uproar died down after a few years, the brutal nature of vampire society meant that those that adapted poorly were shunned and returned to the Shadow plane. As well as opening pathways between other dimensions to Elyssa city, grandmaster Mikami spent a lot of time educating students. According to those around him grandmaster Mikami was a largely philosophical person and rather than educating people in spells or magical knowledge, despite being highly proficient in both, Mikami preferred to change view the viewpoints and opinions of the people around him, and was generally able to leave a room having enlightenned the people within. However, the major stumbling point of his philosophical good will was his longstanding childhood friend Ranari Tokai. The Rise Of Orochi It would do the wizard that was Ranari Tokai a disservice to only discuss the man he became some thirty years ago and the things that he did in the name Orochi. Ranari Tokai and Satoshi Mikami were two wizards mentioned never mentioned one without the other. Born in the same year, attending the same school and the same classes they grew up together and were considered equal in ability in most situations and there were only a few small things that separated the pair in terms of magical ability, Mikami generally getting the better of Tokai. However, despite their ability what was originally a friendly rivalry spiraled out to be a complete hatred. Tokai came to despise Mikami, the latter generally being the name first mentioned, the person first consulted on matters of national importance. Despite being equal, Mikami was constantly preferred to Tokai and the latter came to feel that he was living in Mikamis shadow. The descrepancy became more and more apparently as time went on and as Mikamis list of accolades grew, Tokai's bitterness did so too. Though this is not to say that this overshadowing was not deserved, despite being equal in power Tokai held views closer to pre-war wizards, believing that magical creatures were above humans and that power was the sole dictating factor of ones person. He believed that if a wizard owed nothing to those weaker than them and should only strive to be greater than those above them, even at a young age he is said to be arrogant and combative. His prodigious power did very little to quell his attitude nor his ambitions and with every growth spurt that his ability went through his opinions became more bold and abrasive, much like his personality. He was, in many respects, a complete opposite to the reserved, kind and wise Mikami who garnered the majority of public opinion over his childhood friend. They were split on many issues and many disagreements often came to an end with Mikami withdrawing himself peacefully from a shouting and irate Tokai. Despite this, Tokai never sought magical duels with Mikami to settle desputes of power, as he was fond of with other witches and wizards of lesser power than he. Many times Mikami would have to step in towards the ends of duels to make sure that Tokai did not strike down an opponent, despite it being fully within the rules of blood duels, which Tokai demanded exclusively. Not only did they disagree on the status of a wizard but many times they would disagree on approaches and spells that should be used, were there a slightly more difficult but safer or more conservative solution to a problem Mikami would take that route. Conversely, Tokai would often suggest more dangerous or destructive solutions, Tokais solutions to problems generally did not take into account loss of life or destruction of property, nor did they particularly value diplomatic relationships with others. It was for these reasons that Mikami was sought after as a problem solver and leader, going as far as to hold a seat on the council that lead Elyssa city. Tokai believed Mikami was placed there for his raw power alone and did not understand why he had never been offered a seat, something that further widened the gap between the two great wizards and caused Tokai to become further embittered. As Mikami was leading the city forwards Tokai's bitterness boiled over and as Mikami left the city to travel Bascurro and lead his magical ability to humans in the hopes of improving their lives, something that he did often and with great success, Tokai made an excursion to Gatharrak, the demon dimension. Before the dawn of time, great beasts roamed Gatharrak they were beings of immense power but also creatures of immense destruction. The first steps in the early times of the planes development was defeating and sealing away these creatures in tombs of immense magical protection, from time to time these creatures would offer their powers to mortals in exchange for various important metaphysical things. This was something that Tokai was aware of, as well as the immense amount of power that these greater beasts could offer a mortal like himself. The bitterness at being overshadowed for most of the natural lifespan of a wizard drove Tokai to leave for the demon realm while Mikami was out of the city proselytising the virtues of the wizard people and of wisdom and kindness. There was no one there to stop Tokai as he made a deal with the Great Beasts Of Old in Gatharrak, having forged relations years before in the wake of having left the Demon Realm. Tokai and the Demon people found they had more in common with one and other and as such both were able to forge a strong relationship easily which worked perfectly to his intentions. After leading a military coup in Gatharrak, spurred on by powers given to him by The Great Beasts, he installed a military puppet dictator and in essence, came to control the Demon Realms. Afterwards he took his newfound power as well as an army of demon assassins and staged a coup against the mixed race council of leaders in charge of Elyssa city. Tokai changed his name to Orochi and established the dark and draconian rule that the newly named Tokai city has come to be familiar with. Magical news travels quickly and it wasn't very long whatsoever before Mikami heard the news and he came back from the Eastern side of Bascurro as quickly as he could. When he arrived his beloved city was already undergoing demonic retrofitting. Obsidian walls were being Section heading Write the second section of your page here.